Snuff(21 Nov. 2002)

A murder is caught on tape. With no body or a crime scene, Sara, Warrick and Catherine must get as much information as possible from the grainy 16 mm film. Grissom and Nick must brave a colony of fire ants to recover a body.

Storyline

Brass urges Grissom for hastily examination of a corps that is covered in fire ants, who made their nest in the casket and completely cleaned up bones. A black fly pupa case allows Grissom and Greg Sanders to establish an entomological time-line of about 19 months. Facial reconstruction from the skull for victim identification is extremely difficult, so he enlists the help of specialist 'artist' Teri Miller- it's stable boy Randy Traschell, Down syndrome, missing for 17 months from a horse ranch, which fits the dun beetle found in the skull. Geometrical extrapolation allows Nick Stokes to conclude a cheep spur was used; the broken-off tooth fits present stable-boy Enrique Vasquez, an illegal immigrant. Two symmetrical wounds in the corps fit... Catherine and Warwick examine a pornographic snuff movie, send to a studio, about a murdered porn star. Archie's triangulation identifies the abandoned Mandolin Tower hotel where it was made. The security guard admits having had paid sex with ... Written by
KGF Vissers